The present invention pertains generally to techniques for providing “disaster resistant” operational hard drives and other data storage devices. The need for protecting data grows more acute as ever increasing amounts of valuable and/or irreplaceable data are stored on hard drives and other data storage devices. Various prior art systems have been developed for providing such disaster resistance, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,211,742 and 7,291,784, both of which are incorporated by reference. The common feature shared by the systems taught by the '742 and '784 patents (and other prior art known to applicant) is that an external enclosure is required which houses an operational hard drive (or other data storage device).
The present invention departs from the prior art in that it provides for the first time in one embodiment, a low cost, internal, disaster resistant, operational data storage module that is carried in a standard drive bay of a server or personal computer! No external components are required to be purchased or installed by the user. The module includes a hard drive (or other data storage device), a disaster resistant enclosure, and means for mounting the module in a standard drive bay. Disaster resistant, for the purposes of this patent, is defined as features when added to a low cost, internal, operational data storage module, allow the internal module to protect against data loss due to exposure to extreme physical environments such as fire, flood, water damage, shock, building collapse, etc.
A significant aspect of the invention is that in a preferred embodiment, the disaster resistant module is low cost, single use (i.e. single disaster) and disposable. For reasons described below, the expected cost is 90% less than the cost of a comparable external device of the prior art. Since the module of the present invention is mountable in a standard drive bay, it has a standard size and may be mass produced and integrated by existing system manufacturers which use non-disaster resistance standard bay data modules in their assembly process. Since the cost is minimized by being mass produced, the disaster resistant hard drive is designed to withstand only a single disaster, thereby being disposable. The disposability of the device eliminates the need to design access to the hard drive for servicing, which in turn allows the use of a robust design of the disaster resistant enclosure for the hard drive enabling a greater chance of a successful data recovery after a disaster has occurred.
A further significant aspect in minimizing the cost of the invention is that standard, form factor, hard drives may be utilized. For example, standard drive bays are presently designed to accept hard drives that are 1 inch, 1.8 inch, 2.5 inch, 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch form factors. In one embodiment of the invention, a standard hard drive currently used in a 2.5 inch drive form factor is placed in a disaster resistant enclosure that is sized to fit in a standard 3.5 inch drive bay.
A primary object of the invention is to provide a disaster resistant internal data storage module usable in personal computers and servers to protect against data loss and facilitate data recovery after a fire, flood, shock, building collapse, or water damage event.
A further object is to utilize the standard form factor of standard drive bays for mounting the module of the present invention, thereby minimizing the cost.
A further object of the invention is to provide a disaster resistant internal data storage module having a cost of manufacture that is approximately 90% less than an external disaster resistant module having the same data storage capacity.
Another object is to provide, in one embodiment of the invention, a highly reflective outer surface which reflects radiant heat from a fire but which also conducts heat outwardly generated by the operating data storage device.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and drawings wherein: